George Ford and Panto Gatting Illustrations

The relationship between the 1986-87 touring England team and the travelling press corps was actually pretty good, and when the team arrived in the coastal town of Newcastle for the next match against New South Wales, the players wore T shirts imprinted with “Can’t Bat”, “Can’t Bowl” and “Can’t Field slogans.” Whereupon the press responded with “As we were saying before Brisbane” T shirts when England, bowled out for 197 and 82, lost the match in just over two days.

There was a Christmas Day panto, written by the press and attended by all the players, in which a Gatting (for who a failed alarm call led to a late enough appearance for the Victoria game for Gower having to conduct the toss) was visited in his bed by the ghosts of Can’t Bat, Can’t Bowl and Can’t Field”, and the Australian media giving up on humour when the lost the Ashes in the Boxing Day Test.

Meanwhile back in the present day, the almost continual circus of rugby transfers continues with rumours of George Ford meeting up with his father over the channel. the question is why would he do this when it almost certainly mean the end of his England career and if he was to do it how much would it cost Toulon?